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Stray Questions for: Nathaniel Rich

Nathaniel Rich is an editor at The Paris Review. His first novel, “The Mayor’s Tongue,” was published this spring.

Nathaniel Rich (Mark Schafer)

What are you working on?

Many people are familiar with the surreal, beautiful, often perverse paintings of Henry Darger, who is the most famous of the so-called “outsider” artists. Few realize that the paintings, which now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, were actually a supplementary work. Darger’s main project was a book called “The Story of the Vivian Girls, In What is Known as the Realms of the
Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, as caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.” At 15,000 pages, it is by far the longest novel ever written. (The paintings are illustrations of scenes from the novel.) The book is chaotic, repetitive, and totally insane, but there are many astonishingly beautiful passages.

A few years ago I had the crazy idea of editing Darger’s novel into a cohesive series of novels — modeled after, say, Frank Baum’s “Oz” series. I say editing, but it would be more like translating, since Darger’s text is extraordinarily knotty and difficult. With enough work, I felt that his writing would have huge popular appeal. Unfortunately the Darger estate didn’t like the idea, so nothing ever happened and the manuscript is moldering in an archive somewhere. But I photocopied a few hundred pages and it’s still a habit of mine to work on the “translation” whenever I have spare time. I find it calming. Some people have basket-weaving, some have meth, some have “Finnegans Wake”; I’ve got Darger. He was one of the many models for Constance Eakins, the maniacal author figure in “The Mayor’s Tongue.”

I’m also working on a writing project I’m calling “FutureWorld” but I can’t say anything about it other than that it takes place in the (near) future.

How much time — if any — do you spend on the Web? Is it a distraction or a blessing?

It is a sweet blessing. I spend many zenlike minutes alternating between reading baseball statistics and looking at photographs of strange sea creatures.

Embarrassingly, I’ve also been skulking around my own website lately because a lot of people have been submitting cover designs for the books of Constance Eakins. Most of the submissions are by young designers early in their careers, and their work is incredibly impressive, strange and inspiring. I worked on the “Tongue” for more than five years, in total secrecy, so it’s a surreal feeling to have it out in the world — it’s not easy to let go. But it’s exciting to see Eakins come to life visually through these covers, and assume new (Darger-like?) levels of complexity simply by virtue of other people — readers — taking some ownership of the work. But probably this is all an excuse not to LET GO.

Whose books are generally shelved next to yours in bookstores? How does it feel to be sitting between them?

I haven’t peeked yet but I hope I end up next to Mordechai Richler, who is a hero of mine. Maybe one day someone with poor vision will reach in to pick up a Richler book and instead come away with “The Mayor’s Tongue.” I can always dream.

Bad news. “The Story of the Vivian Girls” is the world’s longest novel no more. That title now belongs to “Marienbad My Love,” an even more chaotic, repetitive and totally insane work consisting of about 17,000 pages totaling 10.1 million words. I should know because I wrote it. And the good news — “Marienbad My Love” is available for translating/editing. So forget Darger. Give me a call.
Regards,
Mark